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FOX 32 / AP — Early voting opportunities have greatly expanded across Illinois as of Monday.
Early voting has been available in Illinois since Sept. 29 but only in certain places, like a county election authority office. The Illinois State Board of Elections say that as of Monday permanent polling locations have opened across the state, making early voting more accessible.
The bitter presidential contest appears to be driving a record number of early voters to the polls in Chicago and the suburbs.
Election officials report that some waited in line Monday for 90 minutes or more.
“I just wanted to get it done early, before all the craziness of the actual day is here. Very easy and convenient,” said Brian Bianchi.
“I like this early voting. It's very convenient,” said Billy Ray Thomas.
“People love to vote early. We're probably going to break a record in suburban Cook today for the most votes ever on the first day of expanded early voting. This is where people can go to those 52 sites in suburban Cook,” said Clerk of Cook County David Orr.
For the first time ever, suburban Cook has more than 1.5 million voters registered. More than 25,000 cast ballots on the first day of fully expanded early voting, twice as many as on the same day of the 2012 presidential contest.
Chicago's nearly 1.57 million registered voters is the highest in 22 years.
West Suburban DuPage County, traditionally more Republican, reports an all-time high 612,000 voters are now registered, a 7 percent increase just since the March primary. The DuPage Election Commission said thousands more voters turned out for this first full day of early voting than did four years ago. New rules making it easier to vote by mail have election officials predicting they'll also shatter previous records for that.
Officials acknowledge that, without the new rules, many of these early-bird voters would have cast ballots anyway on Nov. 8th. So, they say it's premature to forecast a big surge in total turnout. But the outlook is promising.
One new wrinkle this year: the early voting sites will stay open right through Monday, Nov. 7th, the day before all the votes are counted on Tuesday, Nov. 8th.
Election board officials advise voters to make sure they cast ballots in the county where they are registered. Officials say voters can find contact information for county election authorities and early voting locations on the board's website .
Illinois election officials also say it's not too late if you didn't register to vote. Grace period registration is available through Election Day but voters must cast a ballot when they register.